Memory by Mae

Hope

A/N: This is my first Inuyasha fan fiction. I’m excited to finally write this, as I’ve been thinking about it for so long! This is a Sess/Kag pairing, and there will be cursing as well as rated R scenes later on. You have been warned. Please read and review! All comments are appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not (unfortunately) own any of the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot of this story, though.

Chapter One-

Hope

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‘What…’

Raising her head slowly, her eyes took in everything around her. The shredded corpse of a giant snake lay before her. She could smell the thing’s blood: putrid and evil. Scattered across the ground to her left is what looked like its head. There were chunks of black meat strewn across the forest floor before her.

‘Where… Am I…?’

Nothing looked familiar. Her eyes scanned the area before her trying to find anything that would hint to what this place was.  She looked from the tall, dark trees to the sky above her. The moon was full and beaming in full light down at her.

‘Why am I in such a place…?’

Her ears zoning in on the rustling behind her, she turned her head to investigate. At first all she saw was a wall of flowing silver, and after a moment she realized it was not a wall, but shiny silver hair. Forgetting her confusion her eyes began following the silky mass to its origin, which was a surprisingly handsome male face. Her eyes took note of the beautiful fair skin with two purple marks on each cheek, and a deep blue crescent moon on his forehead. Continuing her survey of this beauty her eyes became fixated on the gold eyes that bore down into her own. The coldness that swirled inside them startled her and brought her mind back to reality.

"Miko."

Deep and manly, his voice was just as beautiful as he was. Though the voice would've seemed much lovelier if it wasn't filled with such coldness. The girl wondered briefly if the man was aiming that coldness at her.

"Miko."

It was sterner now, the word dripping with annoyance as well as the coldness before.

Concluding that he must be referring to her as `Miko,` she figured she should come up with some sort of response.

"Umm... Me... Right?"

Well, not the most intelligent response she could muster, but it was all she could spit out.

"Your attempt at humor is failing."

The man's golden eyes narrowed at her response. She couldn’t understand why he was so angry, or why he knew who she was.

‘Wait... Who I am...’

Who WAS she? She couldn't remember anything.

‘Why...?’

She searched deep into her mind, drawing blanks on everything she tried to remember. Her name... Where she was... Did she have a family? Where... and who were they? The attempt to remember made her head throb with such an intense pain that it made her body shake uncontrollably.

>>>>

He started down at the tattered and shaking girl, wondering if he should just kill her now.

`I didn't think the Miko feared me this much. When she is with the hanyo they both stand to fight against me. `

Pondering the woman's reaction for only a moment, the demon decided to gather the half breed's location before he departed.

"Miko, tell me where the hanyo is and I shall not kill you this day."

He stared down and awaited the woman's response.

Moments passed and his brow twitched with annoyance. This lowly human dared to ignore his order? Maybe her death would be on his to-do list tonight after all. He took a step toward the woman, raising his now poison-dripping claw for emphasis. The Miko's head snapped to attention as she realized he was coming closer. Her eyes were wide, full of deep confusion and terror. Starting directly into his eyes, she stopped shaking. She reached out towards him with her small, dirt covered hand. Her voice was but a shaky whisper.

"Please..."

Raising a brow, the demon was becoming more and more irritated. The woman acted as if she had no clue who, let alone what, he was. He lowered himself before her on one knee, and in doing so also raised his claw close to the girl's face.

"I tire of this game you play, wench. Now you will give me his and Tessaiga's location before I rid this nose of your human stench."

The demon waited but for a moment, watching as the girl's eyes frantically searched his for answers he knew not of. Being a demon of his word, he began to reach for her neck, claw dripping with poison and the full intent to kill.

>>>>

"W-WAIT!"

She pleaded loudly as her mind finally registered that the man was completely serious about taking her life. She pushed herself back as best she could, trying to escape the reaching hand that was surely intending to end her. She was slightly relieved to see the hand had stopped in its tracks, though it did not retreat, it just hung there eerily before her. When she leaned on her right arm to push back further she was assaulted with such a stabbing pain that made her cry out. The pain was coming from her wrist and was shooting up the length of her arm. The girl looked down, taking a brief second to assess what could be causing this pain. She stared in shock as she saw deep blues and purples coloring her pale skin.

`Broken... How..? What had happened? `

Lost in her shock, she jumped as a deep growl came from in front of her. Tearing her eyes away from her broken wrist, she looked up into the ever angry gold orbs. He seemed lightly confused and irritated at her, yet his hand did not move any closer. Well, at least that was an upside to all of this.

"P-please… Can you tell me what's going on? What happened to me? And what have I done to make you want to kill me?"

She was so shaken up and confused. Her mind demanded answers. She would not die by some stranger before she even knew what was going on.

"I don't know what's going on here, but I'm sorry if I've done something to make you mad. I don't... I don't remember... I can't remember anything... Where are we? How do you know me? Can you tell me my name?"

She felt a hint of guilt for bombarding him with so many questions, but her inquiry seemed to be stopping him from harming her. Her breaths were short and quick as the fear and confusion of not remembering began to rise inside her once again.

"Miko you will not play me for a fool. You must not value your life too much."

The man stood up, his eyes glaring down at her. He stood for a few moments, mentally assessing her and the questions she asked. She could both feel and smell the dirt and black slime covering her. What the black stuff was, she didn't want to know. Now feeling gross as well as confused, she stared harder into his eyes in hopes that the man would answer her.

"Hm..."

She saw his brow lift as he looked from her to the piles of scattered flesh around them. If she had not been starting at his face she wouldn't have noticed his brow furrow slightly. He looked as if he had figured something out, but what was it? Why was he not answering her?

"Umm..."

She was hesitant on prying any harder, but the need for answers was slowly overtaking her fear.

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The sound of the human girl's voice pulled his eyes away from the dead creature before him. He started down at her again, as he came to an angry understanding. What he had thoughtlessly killed was no ordinary snake demon; the wretched thing even had three jewel shards amplifying its powers. He had seen this demon only once before. The demonic black snakes are rare creatures that feed on the memory and dreams of weak humans. Normally they are extremely vulnerable and could be brought down within seconds, but since it had shards of the jewel it was better defended than usual. Probably why the Miko couldn't take it down. Looking at the human before him he could sense that she was afraid and utterly confused, but not lying. This whole situation was testing his nerves. If only the damned Miko hadn't let it chase her so close to his camp, then he would not have wasted time tearing it to shreds. To her misfortune, he had gotten there after the demon had its fun with the girl, as well as it’s partaking of her mind. Closing his eyes and brushing the ever rising annoyance out of his mind, he turned to leave. This was not going to benefit him as she would not have any useful information after her encounter with the snake. He barely took three steps when he heard her scrambling against the grass.

"Wait, please!"

The girl was audibly struggling to stand as he made for his leave.

Keeping pace, the demon continued to walk away towards his camp. He has not, and will not ever go out of his way to aid a lowly human. Well, with the exception of one human child, but he did not intend to do so again.

"Please wait! Let me come with you! I... I'll do anything! I don't know where, let alone who I am! So, please!"

The Miko was pleading over and over as she began dragging her bruised legs along to follow him.

"If you continue to pester and follow me I shall dispose of you with no hesitation."

The sound of her incessant pleading annoyed him to no end. He was not going to allow that worthless hanyo's wench to follow him anywhere, let alone to his camp.

"Please!"

Her voice was closer and more urgent, but none less irritating.

`This will continue no longer. `

He turned to face the struggling fool of a woman and let his claws drip with his poison.

"You overstep your boundaries, girl. It will be pleasing to kill-"

"SESSHOMARU-SAMAAAAAA!! Master Jaken is being mean to Rin again!"

The little dark haired child ran through the trees, whilst yelling at the top of her lungs, and stopped at his side. She looked from him to the dirty Miko, then back to him. Her eyes lit up in recognition of the woman before her.

"Rin, return to camp. I will join you shortly."

He knew completely what the little girl would insist on if she knew the Miko was in need of help. Retracting his hand, he looked down at the child. She smiled up at him and tugged gently on his fur. He could tell by that smile that she was planning on suggesting the complete opposite of this plan.

"Did Kagome-sama come to play? Oh please, oh please can we play? Playing with Master Jaken is no fun and Rin gets lonely..."

The child's eyes burned into his, her pleading accompanied by her hands squeezing tightly together. Closing his eyes, he felt his annoyance rising with the understanding that he would not win this argument. Angry, as well as irritated, he waved his hand and began walking towards camp once more. He tried to think of what useful things this situation would bring. Then he stopped thinking and smirked inwardly at himself.

`The Miko shall serve as good bait. `

>>>>

She watched as the cold man walked off, leaving her behind with the child called Rin. He seemed no longer intent on killing her. Maybe he is allowing her to come with them?

`Ah... so his name is Sesshomaru. And Kagome is... is...-`

Her thoughts stopped dead in their tracks.

"K... Kagome..."

The word definitely felt familiar as it left her mouth, yet the word brought no memories to mind. Even with no sign of returning memories, she could feel deep within her heart the recognition of her name.

`Kagome. Higurashi Kagome. That's my name... That's my name! `

With wide eyes and a new found hope, she gathered herself and walked to the bouncing young girl. Grabbing the child's hands, she knelt down and smiled warmly at her. The adorable little girl would never know how grateful she was for aiding in the return of her name.

"Rin... Right? Thank you... Thank you so much. I'm so happy to remember my name! It's all thanks to you."

Kagome sighed in relief; at least she knew her name now. Maybe things will come back slowly. And... Maybe this child could help.

"Kagome-sama, why didn't you know your name? Did you hit your head?"

The child looked into her eyes with question and worry. Realizing that she hadn't explained anything to the child, Kagome shook her head.

`That's right; Rin doesn't know that I lost my memory. `

Debating on whether or not to tell her, Kagome decided that the child could probably tell her a lot more that she needs to know. Besides, what's the point in hiding things?

"Rin... I've lost my memory somehow. I don't know where I am, and before you told me my name, I didn't know who I was. I know it may be a lot to ask, but could you help me remember...? In return I will do anything." Kagome looked at the child hopefully, and watched as the girl's expression change from worry too excited.

"Of course! Rin will definitely help! So then... Kagome-sama, will you stay and play? Jaken is always mean and never wants to play... Ohh! Rin can show you to the bath, too!" The child's bounced up and down, excited at the thought of getting to play with a big sister.

"Ah! Of course! ”She stood up and assessed the amount of filth covering her body.  

"Let's take the bath first!"

Kagome smiled and allowed herself to be pulled along by the small child in front of her. Maybe things would look up.